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Glenbrook steel mill. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King NZ Steel says the government's up to $140 million investment in its electric furnace should repay itself in about three years, because taxpayers will be liable to supply the company fewer free carbon credits. Carbon savings from NZ Steel's new electric furnace have been upped to 1 million tonnes a year, and brought forward to the end of 2025. Chief executive Robin Davies said the furnace, which will slash coal use at its Glenbrook plant, will only need 40 minutes' notice to switch off in times of electricity shortages, something it agreed to do in its contract with Contact Energy. The new furnace will recycle scrap steel instead of melting ironsand. The amount of steel produced will remain the same. Davies said firming up the desig...

Winstone Pulp International's Raetihi premises, in the central North Island. Photo: Alexa Cook/RNZ Winstone Pulp International, which employs 230 workers across two large North Island mills, is looking at closing its entire NZ operation due to high wholesale power prices Its main supplier, Mercury, denies it is to blame, saying its contract with Winstone was "significantly lower than spot prices" Mercury posted a net profit for 2023/24 of $290m, a 159 percent increase on the year before Local mayors are lobbying the government to crack down on "price gouging" Ministers have been meeting to discuss how the government could help businesses struggling due to high wholesale power prices Mercury Energy and forestry products company Winstone Pulp International at are loggerheads over ...

Data shows there has been a shift towards smaller investors who only own one property beyond the home they live in. Photo: 123rf New property investors are dipping their toes in the market, Corelogic says. Its data shows that although mortgaged property investors' share of the market has remained flat at about 21 percent or 22 percent, within that there had been a shift towards smaller investors who only own one property beyond their owner-occupier home. "People who have bought their first rental," said chief property economist Kelvin Davidson. "The cliched 'mum and dad investors'." He said conditions were still not overly favourable for property investors but with mortgage rates dropping, and term deposit rates also falling, people with money in the bank might be tempted to look at inv...

Meridian chief executive Neal Barclay said the economics of producing green hydrogen at scale had become more challenging. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Plans to build a green hydrogen facility in Southland have been shelved. The proposal started making headlines in 2021 when Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter looked set to close, and it [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/490469/southland-s-just-transition-gets-funding-boost received government backing]. Meridian Energy says the economics have become more challenging to produce green hydrogen at scale in New Zealand. Chief executive Neal Barclay says they believe that Southern Green Hydrogen is well placed to be a competitive opportunity when the time is right. Meridian Energy has paused plans to build one of the world's largest-scale ...

Photo: 123RF Meridian's boss denies the energy company is profiteering and insists they've invested in the sector despite making millions in profits and dividend payouts. Meridian released its annual report on Wednesday, showing a net profit more than 4.5 times greater than last year. But while big manufacturing companies like Panpac and Winstones have shut down production to cut costs, the companies that generate and sell electricity say most households are yet to see big bumps in their power bills. Meridian's chief executive Neal Barclay told RNZ the percentage of household spending being directed at power bills had actually gone down over the past decade. Consumer NZ said that was because many people were restricting electricity usage to cut costs. Barclay told Morning Report that w...